The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has listed its supervisory priorities for 2023, building on the strategic objectives set out in the recently published MFSA Strategic Statement.
The Authority said it has three supervisory priorities: Governance, Risk and Compliance; Financial Crime Compliance; and Consumer Protection and Education.
These are followed by three high-level priorities for 2023 – Resilience of Supervised Entities; Digital Finance; and Sustainable Finance.
The MFSA said its Strategic Statement is structured around five pillars: Delivering agile and proactive regulation; Sustaining a resilient, internationally networked financial sector; Promoting good governance and compliance; Embracing innovation; and Engagement with the public.
The Supervisory Priorities for 2023 were identified following consideration of the market environment and regulatory developments, as well as the European Supervisory Authorities’ priorities, those of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the direction provided by the European Commission.
MFSA Chief Officer Supervision Dr Christopher P. Buttigieg commented that “As we face new challenges in the post-Covid world, we will continue to focus our supervision on governance, sustainability of business models and operational resilience. Active participation in EU fora and cooperation with the European Supervisory Authorities, the ECB and national competent authorities, continue to be high on our agenda. This ensures that MFSA’s supervisory practices are convergent with those of other competent authorities at European level, thereby strengthening mutual trust between us and other financial supervisors. This is crucial for Malta’s reputation as an international financial centre.”
The MFSA said it uses a risk-based approach to supervision and has a variety of regulatory and supervisory tools available to address identified risks. These tools include supervisory interactions such as inspections and meetings, supervisory and thematic reviews, and mystery shopping. The outputs from these tools can lead to enhanced supervision and monitoring, investigations, remediation plans, and enforcement action when compliance breaches and failures are identified.
The comprehensive Supervisory Priorities document can be viewed on the MFSA website
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